On April 27, Beijing time, the 2022 Badminton Asian Championships are in full swing, the men's singles first round broke out a big cold, the top seed Japan's Momota Kendou scored 1-2 (21-17, 17-21, 7-21) defeated Indonesia's Waduyu was eliminated, encountered a round of travel. Before participating in the Asian Championships, Momota Kendou said that his state was only half of his peak, but the first round of the tour was still not expected by many people.
So far this season, Momota Kendou has played in three races, two stops and one round. In addition to the first round of the Asian Championships, at this year's BWF Tour German Open, Momota Kendou was eliminated in a 0-2 (21-23, 9-21) defeat in a civil war with teammate Kenta Nishimoto, which was the biggest upset in the first round.
In the Men's Singles Quarterfinals at the All England Championships in mid-to-late March, Malaysia's Lee Tsuk-ka eliminated Kento Momota 2-1 (21-7, 13-21, 21-11). For the world's top master Momota Kendou, such a record is really not good.
In 2016, Momota was banned for illegal gambling and disqualified from the Rio Olympics. After being banned for 15 months for gambling, Momota came back to great lengths and won the men's singles title at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships. Playing in the Olympics on his doorstep, he also had high hopes.
Time back to the 2018 season, that season, Momota Kendou in the badminton can be described as a big storm, has defeated Li Zongwei, Chen Long, Acesaron and other first-class players. On September 14, 2018, in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open Badminton Championships, Momota Kendou ushered in a showdown with Lin Dan, who had previously played against the World Badminton League once before, and at the 2015 All England Open, Lin Dan had a 2-0 victory over Momota Kendou.
That match was the second showdown between Lin Dan and Momota Kendou, and japanese fans are undoubtedly most concerned about how Momota Kendou, who has already won the 2018 World Championship, will show the style of the new king of the world. The contest with Lin Dan, the gold medalist of the two-time Olympic Games in Beijing and London, is the pinnacle match that fans are eagerly awaiting.
Although Lin Dan had already passed the peak at that time, his state was still OK. In the end, Momota Kendou easily defeated Lin Dan 2-0 (21-8, 21-10) to reach the semifinals. After that, the Men's Singles Champion of the Japan Open fell into the hands of Japanese celebrity Kento Momota without suspense, which was also the first time that a Japanese player won the men's singles event in the event. At both the World Championships and the Japan Open, Momota Kendo created history for the Japanese, becoming the first Japanese to win the men's singles title in both competitions. After the match, Momota bluntly said that the joy of winning the championship at his doorstep exceeded that of winning the World Championship for the first time in August of that year.
That season, Momota Kendou defeated three Olympic silver medallist Li Zongwei, Olympic champion Chen Long and Evergreen Grove Dan and other three world badminton kings, and is already a veritable new king. Kento Momota was also saddled with the mission of winning gold for the Japanese delegation at the Tokyo Olympics.
Many fans know that Lin Dan and Momota Kendou are left-handed, Momota Kendou revealed: "Since I started playing, Lin Dan has always been a player I respect", calling Lin Dan an idol of longing, and has studied Lin Dan's game video countless times, "I must temporarily give up this worshipful mood in the game and try my best to win." ”
On September 27, 2018, the BWF announced the latest edition of the world rankings at that time, the men's singles world number one changed hands, and Japan's Kento Momota replaced Arcelor as the world number one. At that time, momota Kendou learned that he had become the world's number one, he said: "Ranking first is an unforgettable experience, becoming the world's number one is only the first step, my idols Lin Dan and Li Zongwei have a long sports career, and I also hope to stay in this position for a long time like them." ”
The 2018 season was a bumper season for Momota Kendou, with almost no rest throughout the year, and he participated in the Japan Open, China Open, Denmark Open, French Open, Fuzhou Open, Hong Kong Open and a series of other competitions without stopping, only to withdraw from the Korea Open due to injury. At the Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships, Momota Kendou was reversed 1-2 by Sun Wanhu to stop in the semifinals. Momota said that the loss was due to being too tired and exhausted to the limit.
In 2018, Momota Kendou reached the top of the world for the first time and was in very good shape, and this good state continued in 2019. In 2019, Momota Kendou won the championship many times, including the 2019 Japan Open Badminton Men's Singles Champion, the 2019 World Badminton Championships Men's Singles Champion, the 2019 China Open Badminton Championships Men's Singles Champion, and the 2019 Korea Open Badminton Men's Singles Champion. Between March and December 15, 2019, Momota won 11 championships. He was also successfully elected the 2019 BWF Male Athlete of the Year.
After Lin Li, the leader of the men's singles field in the feathering arena can be said to be Momota Kendou. Kento Momota, who occupies the world's no. 1 ranking throne, has successfully won the championship 11 times in the entire 2019 season in 12 times, refreshing the number of single-season championships maintained by Li Zongwei, which is enough to prove that Momota Kendou's strength in the men's singles arena at that time is unique. It is worth mentioning that in the five matches of the 2019 World Championships, Momota Kendou swept the opponent 2-0 to defend the title strongly, which shows that he has strong game control.
Once the world's first, why are there many rounds of travel now? What's the problem?
In 2020, after winning the Men's Singles title at the Malaysian Masters, Momota suffered a serious car accident on the way back, in which Momota suffered a fractured nose bridge, lip and face injuries, and several stitches on his lips after being taken to the hospital. Momota said the crash had left him "almost mentally broken" and he had been trying to get out of the shadow of the crash. Plagued by vision problems, he had to undergo surgery, delaying his return to the field and leaving him worried that his career would end prematurely. He admitted: "I thought about that. ”
Although the Olympics were postponed, Momota was actively preparing for the event after the recovery, but in 2021, when he was about to compete in Thailand's three races, Momota was diagnosed after undergoing a nucleic acid test at Narita Airport in Tokyo. Injured in a car accident, infected with the new crown, Momota's bad luck continues, and his good state seems to be gone. Although he went to play the All England tournament in 2021 after recovering, Momota lost to Malaysia's Li Zijia in the quarterfinals, showing fatigue completely without the momentum of dominating the badminton world in 2018 and 2019.
Despite this, Momota Kendo is still highly anticipated by Japanese fans at the Tokyo Olympics. However, in the men's singles group stage of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Momota Kendou lost 0-2 to South Korea's Heo Woo-hee in the last group match, and he ranked second in the group with 1 win and 1 loss. Kento Momota, the top seed in the men's singles with high hopes, was eliminated in the group stage, and the Japanese players seemed to lose their souls at once, and in the 5 individual events, only mixed doubles broke into the final four and won the bronze medal, and everyone else was out early.
In the subsequent Sudirman Cup badminton match, although Japan defeated Malaysia to reach the final, Momota Kendou lost a point, and Li Zijia defeated Momota Kendou 2-1. In the following final, China's He Jiting/Zhou Haodong won the first game, Shi Yuqi once again defeated Momota Kendou in the su cup final, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan then locked in the victory, and the Chinese team won the championship with a 3-1 victory over Japan, which was the 12th time that the Chinese team won the Su Cup championship.
After the Tokyo Olympics group stage was out, Momota Kendou's state fluctuated and slowly declined, and after the competition, Momota Kendou won the runner-up at the 2021 Danish Open, the 2021 Indonesia Masters, the 2021 Indonesia Open Round of 16, the 2021 Finals withdrew, the first round of the 2022 German Open, the 2022 All England Quarterfinals, and the first round of the 2022 Asian Championships.
It has to be said that after Momota Kendo suffered two major setbacks in the car accident + new crown, it was difficult for him to return to his peak state. Despite this, he continued to stick to the field and continue his love, which was worthy of respect. Momota is 28 years old this year, and the next time he returns to the Olympics, he will turn 30, which is the standard veteran age. At that point, the Olympic gold medal would probably be just a beautiful luxury. But no matter what, I still expect Momota Kendou to be his real self on the field!